


Of Moonlight and Memory

by DragonWolfChimera



Series: The Misadventures of a Two-Sided Coin [1]
Category: Guild Wars 2 (Video Game), Guild Wars Series (Video Games)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata First Movement, Privet Gardens (Guild Wars), The heart looks like a painful place for that knife, here let me twist it for you, i made myself sad writing this, map breaking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-06-26 00:10:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15651759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonWolfChimera/pseuds/DragonWolfChimera
Summary: The Privet Gardens were not meant to be explored, but why do they keep us away?





	Of Moonlight and Memory

She had found the field the day after she awoke. 

Normally, there was a sort of invisible barrier that blocked all from crossing over that wall, but she had found a crack under another tree that had conjoined its roots to the Pale Mother's. On the other side was a steep, cliff-like slope that would be too difficult to climb up again once she had gotten down there. So, she had gone back whence she came to try and find a rope of some sort only to become distracted by the newly awakened fern hounds. 

But Kimera had not forgotten about that strange field. 

A few nights later, the sapling Valiant had come wandering back, but this time, she was prepared. A rope woven from hemp fibers hitched to her new belt, and her pets stashed away in the fancy Asuran animal transport tech (she had no idea what it was called, but she had killed the Inquest member she got it from before she thought to ask).

Kimera scrambled up to the crack under the conjoined tree before glancing around behind her. She wasn't sure if she was really supposed to be doing this, and the sapling didn’t want to get in any needless trouble. Seeing no one, she jumped up and grabbed the top of the wall and pulled herself up. It was dark enough to see the stars at this point and as she gazed upon the glade, small, hovering lights began to appear. 

They weren't fireflies; Kimera had seen fireflies before, and they didn’t produce that white of a light, but she couldn’t be sure as she was too far away to see properly.

Kimera found a sturdy-looking tree near the edge of the cliff and bound the rope to its base before tossing the rest down to the ground some ways below. She removed her heavy pack from her back and lay it on the ground nearby, where it couldn’t be seen from those inside the Grove. With the Asura pet tech she had in one of the pouches on her belt and her longbow strung along with a quiver of arrows prepared on her back, Kimera started  
sliding her way down the slope. 

The lights were few, some bright, some dim. They cast the meadow in an eerie blueish light, like soft moonlight. Kimera could have sworn she heard voices whispering from them, but wasn't certain. She felt no malevolent vibes from them, so she continued her approach toward the center of the clearing.

A sound rung out, tones similar to that of a bell but far deeper (she would have never heard of a piano until later in her life). Gentle notes, waxing and waning in a deep but soft tune became melded with higher tones and came together in a calming measure.  
Kimera looked around for its source, only for her gaze to settle upon one of the light orbs. Slowly, the valiant crept to it, as if afraid she might startle the thing from its melodious trance. Once she was close, the blue sylvari brought her hands up to cup the light. It shined brighter for a moment before producing a blinding flash.

Kimera didn’t have time to cry out in alarm before she found herself standing in an unfamiliar place. Everything was tinged deep sepia, and the same melody sounded from somewhere behind her.

She turned to see the back of a lithe, green-barked male sylvari, wearing a fancy human garb. He sat upon an ebony wood bench next to a large contraption of the same material. Kimera stepped toward him and tried to tap him on the shoulder only for her hand to fall through him like a phantom. She gasped and looked at her hand, but it was then that she noticed the strange sylvari's face.

Layered scars marred his face where his eyes should have been. Kimera couldn’t even tell where brow ended and cheek began, the scars covered so much. But still he played, his fingers fluttering expertly over the white keys. The sapling didn't know why she was so entranced by the music, and somehow she knew, deep in her gut, that this sylvari was not a Dreamer or Nightmare, but Soundless.

As the song came to its conclusion, the world around her started fading back to the familiar greens and browns of the Grove. The orb still floated in her cupped hand, but during her trance she had brought it close to her face, as though cradling it. She dropped her hands and the orb sunk back to its original place a few feet off the ground.

Kimera wondered who he was, what that contraption was- The trance felt like The Dream, so where was that sylvari now?

The latter she thought she might know and the idea saddened her, for someone who could generate such wonderful song should have stayed in this life to show that beauty to all.

Alas, there was nothing to be done about it now. He was another sylvari who had strayed from under Mother's bough and thus could never return to the Dream. His soul and memory must have come here to be near her after death. A sad notion, but where else would they go? A sylvari's memories are made to return to the Dream, and the closest they could get to the Dream without going back to Sleep would be to the Dream's physical manifestation of the Pale Tree.

Kimera shook her head and turned away, resolving to return here someday when she had more time to look through all of these memories, if that's what they were.

She did not realize that the next time she would return, there would be thousands more to go through.

Dreamers who were forced to be, and died as Mordrem could not return either. Nor could the Nightmare Courtiers who lost their lives running from the Dragon's reach, or had died under Scarlet's wing. Almost all those who were Soundless had joined the ranks of the orbs as well, the Dragon's call affecting them worse than The Dreamers who had Mother's protection and the Nightmare who guarded themselves with a powerful mental mettle.

She would seek out that orb again, with its blind sylvari and his wonderful moonlit sonata, and she would cry silent tears, for Trahearne's memories were there in that field too.

**Author's Note:**

> ...Okay, I want to apologize, but at the same time I don't???  
>  I just seriously wonder wtf happens to Sylvari after they die like, since they're dragon minions, do they get to go to the after life with all the other races, or do they have their own or do they just.... Stop? It's a sad thought, right? I mean, in POF we see that they do get to go _somewhere_ and that's comforting but still. And also, in various missions as a Sylvari or working with Sylvari its mentioned that their memories go back to the Dream, but do _all_ of them go? Or just the Dreamers?  
>  The whole point of this story was to sort of address that little plot hole, where the memories of Mordrem, Nightmare, and Soundless sort of end up in the Privet Gardens. It's honestly more targeted towards those who didn't have a choice in becoming Nightmare, Soundless, and Mordrem respectively, so I haven't really addressed the entire problem, but I got most of it. (Personally, I hope Folain's memories end up sinking in a swamp somewhere but yeah)


End file.
